title: Polymorphism of the HLA-B*15 group of alleles is generated following 5 lineages of evolution.
abstract: Generation of the HLA-B*15 group of alleles has been analyzed using exon 1, intron 1, exon 2, intron 2, and exon 3 sequences from human and nonhuman primates. Results indicated that the 230 alleles analyzed could be grouped into 5 different lineages of evolution coming from nonhuman primate MHC-B* alleles sharing characteristic nucleotide sequences. The major evolutionary mechanism of evolution in this group of alleles is the gene conversion event with the exchange of genomic sequences present in other HLA-B*alleles. This evolutionary event reflects the importance of the exchanges between different genomic regions of distinct HLA-A*, -B*, or -C* alleles and only 1 group of HLA-B* alleles (B*15 in the present paper). These data also correlated with the geographic distribution of the lineages postulated and with the corresponding serologic specificities (B62, -63, -71, -72, -75, -76, and -77). In conclusion, the high degree of polymorphism of 1 group of alleles has a specific and simple pathway of evolution, which could result in new insight into the study of immune system functionality, disease association studies, and anthropological studies.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Inmunoterapia Celular, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain. jmlaso@isciii.es
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez-Laso
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Herraiz
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vidart
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peñaloza
authors.forename: Maria Luz
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Barbolla
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jurado
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cervera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D000939:Epitopes; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005785:Gene Conversion / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005843:Geography; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011323:Primates; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D007518:Isoantibodies